Tennis: New Zealand thrashed in Davis Cup tie by Finland

Isaac Becroft went down to world number 51 Emil Ruusuvuori.

Davis Cup captain Kelly Evernden hasn't held back assessing New Zealand's top tennis players after the 5-0 drubbing by Finland in Helsinki.

New Zealand will play a World Group 1 playoff tie early next year after being outclassed by the Finns, who boasted world number 51 Emil Ruusuvuori in their ranks.

Needing to win the doubles rubber to keep New Zealand's hopes alive, Michael Venus and Artem Sitak have lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to Ruusuvuori and Harri Heliovaara in a high-quality one hour and 44 minute encounter.

That gave Finland the winning point and with Ajeet Rai suffering a slight hip problem in the opening day singles, Evernden opted to give Isaac Becroft (ranked 1016) a match in the first of the dead rubber reverse singles matches against Ruusuvuori.

Becroft, who is just starting his professional career after playing college tennis, lost 6-2, 6-1 in 53 minutes.

It left Kiranpal Pannu to try to salvage something for New Zealand in the final rubber against Eero Vasa but the Finn proved too strong, winning 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and one minute.

Evernden acknowledged it's going to take a lot of hard work and commitment from the players to improve their level to be able to compete against quality opponents.

"It was a great learning experience for the guys. Nobody on our team is capable of beating Ruusuvuori and we got to see him in action a little bit. So it was a valuable thing for us," Evernden said.

"The reality of what needs to be done for our guys, seeing a guy that's ranked in the top 50 in the world, first hand and up close and personal, they realise that no matter what they're thinking about their ranking, 500 or 600 in the world, it's nowhere near the level that they're seeing.

"He's (Ruusuvuori) a scary dude right now and they're out there playing the best point they can possibly play and they don't make any headway and it's over and over and over again."

Evernden packed plenty of punches when summing up where the likes of Rai, Pannu and Becroft are at.

"Ruusuvuori's ball striking was so superior to anybody that we had, I think that's the thing that I wanted them to see, stand on the other side of the court, and get completely thumped out of position by a guy who's playing top 10, top 15 guys regularly in his career, and I think it was an eye-opening experience for them.

"That's the problem with playing at the low levels and playing in the 700s, is everybody's making mistakes on simple balls, everybody's missing shots that they should make.

"That doesn't happen at the top level. If you give somebody an opportunity to win a point, they're going to put the ball in the right place, they're going to win the point, and you can't make mistakes, and it was really valuable for the kids to see that."

Evernden says the New Zealand players have to become physically fitter.

"I don't think they work hard enough physically, I don't think they have the mental fortitude to compete at the level that these guys are competing in day to day.

"I think they realise that and it's a tough road. It's a single purpose thing, right? I mean, when I was playing tennis, I didn't rely on anybody but me and if you're relying on 25 people to help you go win a match, you have 25 excuses coming out the back door.

"My thing with them is you're on court by yourself for a reason. Because this is the way the sport was built. If you can't trust yourself, and trust your game to win your matches on your own, you're probably not going to be able to make it if you're always looking over your shoulder. "

Finland will advance to the Davis Cup qualifiers next March while New Zealand will play in the World Group 1 playoffs in a bid to avoid relegation to Group 2.